47 tidbits to make the Super Bowl more enjoyable

Any football fan loves the Super Bowl, and this promises to be a pretty good one — two well-balanced, exciting teams with future Hall of Famers aplenty.

JONATHAN COMEY

The Patriots aren't in the Super Bowl, and that's OK.

Neither are 29 other teams, fans of which will be getting over their disappointment to watch the biggest sporting event in America today.

But I understand that Patriots fans are still stinging a bit, and why they are largely tuning out the pregame hype surrounding a Ravens-49ers Super Bowl. New England is definitely the third wheel on this date, having played such memorable games with both teams (and losing them).

Still, any football fan loves the Super Bowl, and this promises to be a pretty good one — two well-balanced, exciting teams with future Hall of Famers aplenty.

So, while I travel south toward Super Bowl XLVII, typing away in the backseat while my friends Jay and J-Bot pilot our rental to New Orleans, I humbly offer 47 tidbits designed to make this 47th Super Bowl more enjoyable for all.

1. Colin Kaepernick is the new Tom Brady, and will be the MVP today. I'm expecting nothing less than a huge game for Kaepernick, who is the first QB since Brady to take the "replace an injured starter" route to the Super Bowl. And like Brady, he sat on the bench for basically his entire rookie season. Do I think he's going to do what Brady did? I kind of do. It might not be the same path Brady took, but I'm expecting multiple Super Bowls from him and San Francisco.

2. Every team in the league had a shot at Kaepernick in the 2011 draft, but he was a second rounder. After his senior year at Nevada, Kaepernick was No. 8 in Heisman balloting — no small achievement from a mid-major. This was a four-year starter who stood 6-5, could throw and run at an elite level, was humble, smart and dedicated. And yet, Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder all went in the top 15 picks overall while Kaepernick waited until No. 36 for no apparent reason.

3. Patriots-related! Kaepernick went four spots after New England took disappointing defensive back Ras-I Dowling in the 2011 draft. While no one's clamoring to replace Tom Brady, it would have been pretty interesting to see how Kaepernick's development would have played in New England.

4. Five other fun Kaepernick facts: He is adopted, was a 4.0 student in high school, was only offered one big-time college football scholarship, was drafted by the Cubs, and will reportedly receive a lifetime supply of Red Robin restaurant food if the 49ers win the Super Bowl. On the last bit, I'm guessing he didn't get those tattooed Popeye arms of his by eating towers of onion rings and double cheeseburgers, but a perk's a perk.

5. The Harbaughs really are cool. Is the angle overplayed? Sure. But not only is the idea that brothers would face each other in the Super Bowl straight-up neato, they are interesting and talented guys. The parents are cool, the Harbaughs are cool, everything's like a bunch of Fonzies. And what's Fonzie? Cool.

6. Admit it, you still root for Randy Moss a little. Hearing Randy talk this week was enjoyable — he tells it the way he sees it, and the more you hear from him, the more you understand his complexities and peculiarities. Is he the greatest wide receiver of all time? Nope. But he's pretty close, and he's a one-of-a-kind player and personality. He's every bit as compelling a figure as Ray Lewis, but without the self-promotion.

7. Moss, however, while explosive and interesting, isn't exactly Mr. Clutch. He hasn't had a 100-yard game in the playoffs since the 2000 season (nine playoff games ago).

8. Aldon Smith had 19.5 sacks for San Francisco, most ever by a 49er pass rusher, and has a big personality to match his talent. But he's only the second best Smith on the 49ers.

9. The Niners' superior Smith is Justin, who has been the league's most consistently good interior defensive lineman over the past five years. He's been doing what J.J. Watt does for years — no star player is more underappreciated than No. 94. That said, he's playing through the type of injury (torn triceps) that would keep a normal person from tying their shoes, and he hasn't been as good since getting hurt.

10. The Niners' defensive struggles mirror those of their star D-lineman. Since Dec. 16, the 49ers played four elite teams (Seattle, New England, Green Bay and Atlanta) and allowed an average of 31.8 points a game.

11. Ray Lewis as a sideshow has obscured the fact that he truly is/was one of the best ever. He's probably one of the 20 best players ever, regardless of position, in NFL history. Only a handful of all-time greats have played as long as Lewis, only a handful have had a higher peak, and almost no one has been the common denominator for so many different great teams.

12. Lewis, by the way, might make a few more million bucks marketing his catchphrase from media week in the face of questions about illegal substances. "I'm too blessed to be stressed" is a championship-quality slogan. Put me down for a bumper sticker and two coffee mugs.

13. The 49ers are one of the best running teams in history. For whatever reason, no one seems to realize just how good they've been — they averaged 5.1 yards a carry in the regular season and have put up 235 a game in the playoffs. And the Ravens have a good rep against the run, but they were statistically just OK this year.

14. President Obama will be weighing in on the NFL again today. If you like the Prez, as I do, you might want to consider watching his interview with CBS' Scott Pelley during the pregame at 4:30 p.m. — he's not going to give you any great insight on the game, but the man does have a watchability factor that's through the roof. And when he questions the safety of the game, his words carry weight — good news, in my book, for a game that needs to continue to become safer.

15. This is the first time since the league went to 16-game seasons in 1978 that neither team in the Super Bowl won at least 12 games in the regular season.

16. If you are playing Super Bowl squares, the numbers you want are 3, 7 and 0. The numbers you don't want are 2 and 8. Or, you could save your five bucks and get a sandwich on Monday afternoon.

17. Last year, nearly $100 million was bet in Las Vegas on the Super Bowl. Before the season started, the 49ers were about a 6-to-1 shot to win the Super Bowl, with Baltimore at 8-to-1.

18. The Ravens are on a wild run playing against high-level quarterbacks. All of their last nine opponents featured QBs with at least one Pro Bowl berth, and included Andrew Luck, RG III, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning (twice), Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger.

19. The Ravens have a huge advantage on field goals. Rookie Justin Tucker has only missed three of his 36 attempts while San Fran's David Akers has 14 misses and is 8-for-19 beyond 40 yards.

20. While the actual game is being played, there is unlikely to be any mention of Manti Te'o, Lance Armstrong or A-Rod for the full three-and-a-half hours. Can America go that long without new details on these fascinating stories of scummery and scammery?

21. Halftime for the Super Bowl is 30 minutes as opposed to the usual 12 minutes. This seems to focus both teams notably — in the history of the game, there have only been 11 plays of 50+ yards in the second half as opposed to 22 of them in the first half.

22. As of Friday, 55 percent of ESPN.com poll respondents are picking the 49ers to win. Also, only six percent are "not interested" in watching the game.

23. I always miss the commercials because I'm covering the game, but I did see the Seth Rogen/Paul Rudd commercial for Samsung Galaxy smartphones that will appear repeatedly today, and it's a good one. On Monday, I will ask the internet which of the other ones were funny, and the internet will tell me because it knows everything.

24. Joe Flacco's career hasn't been perfect, but he's been pretty much slump proof over his five years in the league. Only once, during the first half of 2011, did he string together a series of games where he had poor numbers week in and week out. The Ravens went 4-2 during that stretch, and have never lost three in a row with Flacco.

25. According to Pro Football Focus' unique player grades, San Francisco had the NFL's best run blocking this year and the best run defense as well. Baltimore actually ranked 31st by PFF in pass defense.

26. If Kaepernick is on his game, it's probably lights out for the Ravens — but that's no lock. He has made big mistakes this year — not many of them, but some big ones. And when you protect the ball as well as Baltimore does, one big mistake could cost the Niners the game.

27. Baltimore tight end Dennis Pitta is a quiet weapon, with 61 catches for 669 yards and seven touchdowns this year. The 49ers will be focused on the Ravens' outside receivers, but Pitta could have some room to operate in the middle.

28. Both teams have mascots: San Fran has "Sourdough Sam," a square-jawed prospector, the Ravens have "Poe" the sardonic raven. Neither should impact the final score.

29. The Alisha Keys (anthem)/Beyonce (halftime) entertainment pairing is a heck of a combo. In fact, it might represent the greatest partnership since sugar master John Q. Doctor first met up with seltzer master Percival Pepper.

30. Patriots-related! Bill Belichick gave Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome his first post-playing job, working in the Browns' personnel/scouting department.

31. It's not a big surprise that Baltimore safety Ed Reed mentioned during the week that he would love to play for Belichick — the two have a long, good relationship, and Belichick was captured after the AFC title game embracing Reed and urging Reed to "finish it" in the Super Bowl. Reed might not have much left, but I'm sure Belichick would figure out a way to get the most of him. That said, it's hugely unlikely he'll play anywhere but Baltimore again in his career.

32. Baltimore defensive backs Cary Williams (17 pass breakups) and Reed (16) were both among the top 10 in that category this year.

33. San Francisco is the slightly bigger city, with 812,826 residents as of July 2011 to Baltimore's 619,493.

34. Ravens coach John Harbaugh reportedly referred to his team's final practice as an "A-plus," then quickly amended it to an "A-plus-plus." No report on how many of his Raven players gave the mathematically dubious "110 percent" during the practice.

35. Flacco's take on next year's cold-weather Super Bowl site in New York/New Jersey was as off base as his word choice of "retarded." Note to Joe: it is possible to have a great time even when the temperature is 29 degrees. And isn't it about time the Northeast got a Super Bowl? We've got four teams and about 30 percent of the TV viewers up in these parts. Foxboro 2019?

36. Jim Harbaugh wears a red Sharpie pen around his neck. So if you need a Sharpie, he's got it.

37. As a player, Jim Harbaugh was by no means an elite quarterback over his 14-year pro career, but he was always one of the best decision makers. He led the league in avoiding interceptions twice, in 1995 and 1997.

38. Ray Rice is considered more elusive than Frank Gore, but in fact Gore has broken more tackles than Rice in each of the last three seasons.

39. The Ravens beat the Niners 16-6 on a Thanksgiving clunker in 2011, their last meeting. Baltimore held San Francisco to 170 yards that day. Don't expect a repeat.

40. According to the NFL, the 21 most viewed American TV programs ever are all Super Bowls, and Sunday Night Football is the most viewed show on TV. More people watched the Super Bowl than voted in the 2012 election. So apparently, this football stuff is pretty big.

41. The Ravens' skill players were great taking care of the ball during the regular season — only Ray Rice fumbled on an offensive play all year long, and it was only the one time.

42. Patriots-related! Rob Gronkowski is making the rounds in New Orleans, which you can't knock him for €» well, maybe you can knock him a little bit. You didn't see Tom Brady dancing after the Super Bowl loss to the Giants, and you certainly won't see him anywhere near New Orleans to watch other teams play for the title tonight.

43. Fullback Bruce Miller wears 49 for the 49ers, which has traditionally been worn in San Francisco by lesser-known players who are already halfway to becoming fan favorites on jersey number alone. For every Ray Lewis, there are 20 guys like Miller who are hoping to do their small role to perfection and share a title. "To make it through the games and to this point, it is finally starting to sink in. When we practiced last week at the facility we were even still shocked coming off the win in Atlanta, so it's really starting to set in that we are at the Super Bowl."

44. Roger Goodell's assertion that there will be HGH testing in 2013 is a pretty big deal, and should really be the biggest non-game talking point. Testing for steroids while NOT testing for HGH has never made sense to me from an enforcement standpoint — kind of like busting a drug dealer and confiscating all his cocaine but letting him keep the heroin.

45. The NFL went to the roman numeral system when they got to No. 5, and why not "Super Bowl V" must have looked really cool on the posters.

46. The animals at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas have supposedly gotten every Super Bowl pick right since 1998, and they picked the Ravens to win this year. The method? Two identical footballs are filled with identical tasty treats, and whichever one gets eaten will win the title. And you thought it had something to do with execution and film study.

47. The kickoff is scheduled for 6:30. It is on TV. You will be watching. Enjoy the show.